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Spring Break: Or There And Back Again

Yes, I spent my Senior year Spring break in the lovely little town of Oxford (have you heard of it?). As one of my friends asked me, “Wait. Spring break. Isn’t that where all you Americans go to Florida or something?” Well, I decided to go back to Oxford since the national collegiate dancesport competition was last Saturday (seriously? It’s already been a week?) and I wanted to support my friends. I was so supportive that I was watching them dance instead of taking photos of them. Whoops. But, Oxford did win the trophy again (take that, Cambridge)! It was hilarious, though, because some of my friends didn’t recognize me with my new hairstyle (the last time they saw me, I had short red hair) or without my dance shoes on (haha).

Look at all of that shiny hardware! I stole this photo from one of my friends, David. Thanks, David!

No, I didn’t dance – shocker, right? It was great to see all of my friends dance to another victory, but it was a weird experience as well. I didn’t have to get up at 5:00 a.m. or apply loads of make-up – I just sat and watched. It was kind of relaxing, actually.

I spent the rest of my time in Oxford, which probably doesn’t surprise any of you.

Love.

Me at Mansfield College.

I stayed with my good friend, Yszi, and I introduced her to the marvels of American cooking, like Funfetti cake and American-style pancakes.

This is Yszi cooking for me and trying to convince me that Brits can cook. Well, she can, but she doesn’t count.

Just a note: Nutella on pancakes is wonderful.

I was able to catch up with a lot of my very good friends from last year, including:

Lorna, who was my adopted little sister. Mansfield College provides every new student with a “family,” and Lorna was Carrie’s “little sister.” Well, all of the JYAs eventually adopted Lorna, and we’re fairly sure that she’ll jump across the pond to join us permanently some day.

Jess and Jo, who are two of my friends from Neil’s dance school.

Melissa, who is actually a Holy Cross student and my mini-me. Seriously. She is me…but with brown curly hair. I brought her some American delicacies, such as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and…

Funfetti cake mix. The Brits do not understand our cult-like obsession with this cake mix, by the way.

I was also able to see Emily P., who is a Holy Cross student currently studying at Mansfield. She joined the Oxford Ballroom team and continued the tradition of a Holy Cross girl always being on the team (well, since 2008). We actually never knew each other at Holy Cross, but we’ve bonded through our similar experience on Oxford’s dance team.

Me with Neil and Emily. Yes, Neil always has that evil smirk on his face, and it usually means that he’s going to torture an innocent American girl by making her do cha-cha lock steps up and down the hall for thirty minutes. I am, unfortunately, not speaking from Emily’s experience, but from my own. Seriously, when Neil picked me up from the airport last Friday morning, the first question he asked me after the typical niceties was, “So, how’s the dancing going? How much do I need to fix this time?” Ah, dance coaches.
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Rhinestones, hair spray, and glitter – oh my!

If anyone walked through the Hogan Campus Center yesterday, then he or she waltzed right in to the ballroom dance world.

The team hosted our annual competition yesterday, and I’m quite happy to say that all of our intense planning paid off. Cecilia and I have been planning the competition since (literally) the end of last academic year, and everything went extremely smoothly. Even the snow couldn’t affect what a wonderful day it was.

We were very lucky – all of our competitors were able to get to our venue safely and (for the most part) on time.

This year was our biggest year – we’re now officially a large competition in the Northeast area, which is really exciting. What was also exciting is that we had two Holy Cross alums come back to do the professional showcase. Mike and Jess are our first couple to turn pro (not like I’m anticipating another or anything…*cough* *cough*) and they’re professionals in American Smooth.

The show case was absolutely stunning, and I’m so glad that we were able to have a former Holy Cross couple perform.

Here are just an odd assortment of photos from the day:

Kelsey went to Oxford the year before me and was on the dance team. She’s the one that started the trend, I guess. It’s an Oxford Dancesport Team tradition to shout out “OXXXXXXXFOOOOOOOOOORRRRRD” as your teammates are dancing, so we just did the abbreviated version.

Of course, as you can probably tell by this photo, Cecilia and I are exhausted now (we were both up at 4 a.m. on Sunday and that bag of candy was our breakfast. Nutritious and delicious!) The competition was worth it, though. But now I have quite a bit of work to finish before I head off for Spring Break on Thursday. Eeeeek!
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It’s the Most Hectic 19 Days of the year…

As of today, there are 19 days left in my first semester of my senior year. Can we cue the panic music now?

Before I begin with what’s to come, let’s back up and see where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing since my last post.

Last Friday (the 19th) was Senior Ball, which was held at the DCU Center. I never knew that my classmates could look so elegant and/or dance so well!

Dancing!

Carrie, Miriam, Janet, and Tina posing

Carrie and me being total hams. Not much has changed since Freshman year.

Alyssa and me representing Kimball

Then that weekend was spent in Dinand (which is now open 24/5, which makes sleeping over in the library a possibility. Don’t tempt me!) writing my thesis and my Shakespeare paper since on Tuesday, I left for (wait for it…)

England.

Yes, although I only had a five day break, I hiked over to England for my Thanksgiving Break. For those of you who don’t know, I won a qualifier for the national ISTD championships in the Latin event. My parents decided to let me go back to compete at Nationals, provided that my mother joined me so I would return to America. I left on Tuesday right after my classes and we arrived on Wednesday morning. Mom and I spent Wednesday to Friday in London seeing some sights that Mom didn’t have a chance to see when she visited me during my year abroad. We spent Thursday in Oxford, where I had a brief and disastrous lesson with my coach, Neil, and I also saw two of my best friends from my year abroad. Then we left for Blackpool, which is the home of ballroom dance, on Saturday. I competed on Sunday, and after my lesson on Thursday, I was incredibly nervous. I ended up in the top ten for my ballroom event, which pleased me since I haven’t properly danced  a basic quickstep since about April. Then the Latin event came…

I was incredibly nervous about my Latin even since my coach was less than impressed with how I had regressed since I left England. He told me that I had about 72 hours to fix my dancing and remember everything that he taught me last year. Well, I guess that worked since I kept going on round after round. Finally, they were announcing the numbers for the final – there were seven girls who had made it. My number was high for the event (24), and the first six numbers were incredibly low (the highest one announced was 13). I was a bit devastated since I thought that I didn’t make it, but my number was the last one called. Woo hoo! I made it to the final. At that moment, I didn’t really care about how I danced; I was just excited that I made it. After dancing the final, they announced the placings. I won second place. No, it still hasn’t sunk in that I did that well. My coach thought I should’ve won, but considering the fact that I haven’t properly danced with him since July, I was excited at even making the final!

Me with my shiny trophy! It’s currently in my dorm room.

The new Latin dress that my father loves…not really.

Me with my coach, Neil.

And that was my Thanksgiving break! I made a mad dash for Heathrow yesterday, flew back to Boston, and arrived on campus at 10:00 p.m. last night. In the next 19 days, I have to finish my thesis chapter, write a Shakespeare paper, present my findings on Karl Rahner, present my thesis chapter to the English faculty, and take two finals. Although I could’ve used this weekend to get ahead on all of that work, dancing in England was totally worth it.
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Two Very Long Overdue Announcements

There are sometimes that I feel bad for you, dear readers. When you think about it, all of my posts from last year were pretty much “I LOVE OXFORD” or “I LOVE DANCING!” It’s okay; you can admit it – my feelings won’t be hurt!

Well, I’m sure that there were times that you were dragging through my entries and wondering if my dancing exploits and journey abroad would ever amount to something. Well, I’m quite happy to announce that two really awesome things did come out of my year abroad (well, okay. A lot of awesome things came out of my year abroad, but these are two major events that happened to me). This is the first time that I’m announcing them through my blog because…well…I was trying to be modest and I wanted my blog to focus more on my experience abroad. However, news of both of these awesome events is spreading like wildfire throughout campus, so I thought that I might as well let you all know about it too, since you experienced Oxford with me (in a way).

Firstly, Sigma Tau Delta, the national English honors society, awarded me a $3,000 scholarship to put toward my education whilst studying abroad. Only one of these awards is given out per academic year. I was selected due to my passion for English literature (albeit medieval and you wouldn’t know it was English unless someone told you), the high level of classes that I was taking at Oxford (Paleography, anyone?), and my desire to return to Oxford to complete my graduate studies in English literature there. So, to all of you future English majors: your major can be profitable!

Secondly, I am returning to England over Thanksgiving break to compete in the National ISTD Ballroom Dancing Championships. I won the Latin division in the regional qualifying event, so I was invited back to compete for the national title. This isn’t just a collegiate comp – this is  a much higher standard than collegiate competitions. So, while you’re all eating turkey and cranberry sauce, I’ll be practicing my cha cha lock steps! In addition, at the end of my year abroad, I was also awarded Team Colours, which is very similar to earning a varsity letter in America. Due to my dedication to the team and the high level of proficiency that I achieved in both Latin and Ballroom styles, my coaches and team president awarded me Team Colours. I’m the first visiting student and dancer of my level to achieve this honor in the 60 year history of the dancesport team/club at Oxford.

Unfortunately, the only photos that I have from the qualifying event are professional, so I can’t upload them here. (Thanks to my very good friend from Oxford, John Sinclair, for letting me use this photo!)